Abortion Facts

We are fighting for womens rights to a safe and legal choice. In many countries, women die as a result of abortion being criminalised. The facts are are often gruesome and always humiliating violations of human rights.

Human right to safe Abortion care

As early as 1967 the World Health Assembly identified unsafe abortion as a serious public health problem threatening women in many countries (11).

The World Health Organization’s definition of health is: “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (12).

The right to health has been recognized in numerous international human rights treaties, such as: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Article 25.1 in 1948; the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination: Article 5 (e) (iv) in 1965; the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: Article 12.1 in 1966; the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women: Articles 11 (1) (f), 12 and 14 (2) (b) in 1979; the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child: Article 24; the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families: Articles 28, 43 (e) and 45 (c) in 1990, and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Article 25 in 2006 (13).

In 1994, the Program of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development was the first major international agreement to make recommendations to reduce unsafe abortion, by stating the following:

“All governments and relevant intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations are urged to strengthen their commitment to women’s health, to deal with the health impact of unsafe abortion as a major public health concern” and “In circumstances where abortion is not against the law, such abortion should be safe. In all cases, women should have access to quality services for the management of complications arising from abortion” (14). In 2009, the United Nations Human Right Council (UN) accepted a resolution on the recognition of maternal mortality as a violation of human rights (15).

In October 2011, Anand Grover, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health, submitted a report to the UN General Assembly which stated: “Criminal laws penalizing and restricting induced abortion are the paradigmatic examples of impermissible barriers to the realization of women's right to health and must be eliminated. These laws infringe women's dignity and autonomy by severely restricting decision-making by women in respect of their sexual and reproductive health” (16).

In March 2016, UN experts released an authoritative new legal commentary that stated again that the right to sexual and reproductive health is not only an integral part of the general right to health but fundamentally linked to the enjoyment of many other human rights, including the rights to education, work and equality, as well as the rights to life, privacy and freedom from torture, and individual autonomy.

Governments have an obligation to ensure universal access to quality sexual and reproductive health care, including maternal health care, contraceptive information and services, safe abortion care; prevention, diagnosis and treatment of infertility, reproductive cancers, sexually transmitted infections and HIV/AIDS. Also essential medicines should be available, including a wide range of contraceptive methods, such as condoms and emergency contraception, medicines for abortion and for post-abortion care, and medicines, including generic medicines, for the prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted infections and HIV.

16- United Nations Right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. A/66/254 http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2011/gashc4018.doc.htm accesses 2-1-2014

Facts on Induced Abortion Worldwide, 2012

Click here for a fact sheet on induced abortion worldwide, published by the Guttmacher Institute in 2012.
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Abortion Laws Worldwide

Approximately 25% of the world's population lives in countries with highly restrictive abortion laws - mostly in Latin America, Africa and Asia. In some countries, such as in Chile, women still go to prison for having an illegal abortion, and abortion is not allowed even in cases of rape or…
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Abortion Myths

People who are against free choice create many myths about abortion which have never been proven.
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Quotes and emails

Quotes from emails we received during our sailings to Ireland and Poland.
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